BLOG STATS

Aug 9, 2013

It's been a little over a year since Samantha founded a charitable organisation to help the needy, "preferably women and children". Post battling immunity disorder that left her bedridden for over a couple of months, the actor decided to help those in need of medical assistance. "A lot of people, who I did not know personally, took care of me when I was ill. It got me thinking about how I could give back," recalls Samantha. She then joined hands with Dr Manjula, Dr Pamela and Dr Sirish, to form the philanthropic foundation.

And now, the actor wants to reach out to more people and is planning to auction personal paraphernalia to raise funds for the organisation. "Right now, it's just me and a couple of doctors who are handling this and there are only so many people we are able to reach out to. We have been in consultation with like-minded people regarding the same. At a recent meeting to discuss how to reach out to more people, somebody suggested the idea of auctioning my personal stuff — designer clothes that I wear to audio releases and public functions, accessories and my wardrobe from movies, etc. We will have the auction in Hyderabad in the next month-and-a-half," shares Samantha.

The actor is also planning to rope in other Tollywood stars. "I am in talks with other stars as well. I will beg, borrow and steal stuff from all our favourite stars and get them on board," she laughs. Presently, the foundation is helping treat children suffering from hemophilia. The foundation also helped treat Rajitha, an MBA student who lost a leg in the Dilsukhnagar bomb blast in February.

"I was touched to see my fans, mostly middle class people, come forward to raise `50,000 and the foundation chipped in with an additional `2.5 lakh needed to fix her prosthetic leg. Her dream was to be able to stand on her feet again. There are plenty more like her who are in need of help, and for that, we need more money. We also hope to provide a platform for those who want to help the needy. I'm sure there are a lot of people wanting to help and don't know how to go about it, or are backing out because they don't know if the money will be put to good use."

While the actor is gearing up for the auction, and plans to get her filmi friends to contribute, it'll be interesting to see what designer gears comes out of the closet of stars.